North Augusta High School Hopes To Even All-Time Series With Aiken High School

Aiken County, SC—Some of the trophies here are old, and tarnished. North Augusta has turned out winners, for decades…

Carey Johnson, head coach, Aiken High School: “We definitely have the respect for North Augusta football, because they do have a great coached football team, their players are great, skill-wise.“

Aiken High School dominates on the field, a fact they’ve let sweep across the county.

Dan Pippin, head coach, North Augusta High School: “They’re our rival, and the reason they’re our rival, is because they’re traditionally the best team we play.“

There is a mutal respect, each team for the other, as they face off this week. But, they’ve met before…this game will be the 85th time North Augusta High School meets Aiken High School on the football field, and that mutual respect for two teams with equal forces of power, turns out to be more than just an idea: it’s a statistic.

In the last 85 matchups, over 70 years, there have been three ties, North Augusta has won 40 games…Aiken High, 41.

Ed Girardeau, Play-by-play commentator: “Which is an amazing stat, when you think of…for Aiken County, it’s like South Carolina and Clemson, and Georgia and Georgia Tech…and Clemson has a big lead on South Carolina, and Georgia has a big lead on Georgia Tech. So, the fact that these two teams are this close, after all these years, is pretty remarkable.“

Johnson: “that sounds about right. I know, for years, when we first got here, North Augusta really had our number pretty good. And, we’ve been fortunate in the last few years, to really turn the tide a little bit.“

At North Augusta, Coach Pippin hopes to round out the numbers, and overcome another number that has followed him throughout his career: 0…the number of times he’s beaten Aiken.

Pippin: “It’s been bad, yeah, but I would think the majority of the teams that Aiken’s played could say the same thing. They’ve just been really good, they’ve just got a great coaching staff, great kids.“

Johnson: “I think they have the up on us this year. Dan’s a great guy, got a great staff over there at North Augusta. If you stay long enough, it will happen!“

Each coach promotes the other, and each team, wants it just as badly.

Johnson: “Hopefully it will be a good game. Spirits-wise, I think North Augusta has the ups on us.“

Pippin: “The support that we’ve had this year has been unbelievable. You know, Friday night, the practice field will be full of cars…tailgating, the stands will be packed, it will be standing room only.“

As it has been for the last 70 years…

You will find out if North Augusta can make it all even, with that win, when they take on Aiken High at their home field. It’s the ‘Aiken Standard’ Game of the Week, and we’re proud to show the ‘Aiken Standard’s’ broadcast of that game on Sunday, at 2:00 p.m., and Monday, at 4:00 p.m., on our digital channel. That’s channel 6.2 over the air, or 246 on most cable providers.